Artemis and Orion
by mayflowerbel
Summary: Orion and Artemis are born twins. Identical in looks, yet as different as night and day. When they were children, that only made them stronger. But time passes and they drift apart. Some bonds cannot be fixed. Full summary inside. Crossposted on ao3.
1. Book 1: Chapter 1: Myths and Fairy Tales

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Artemis Fowl series.That honor belongs to Eoin Colfer.**

**WARNING: This fanfic is rated M due to exploring in depth disturbing subjects.** **eg. trauma, gruesome imagery, self harm. I will try to handle these subjects as tactfully as possible, but you have been warned.**

* * *

**Summary: Orion and Artemis are born twins. Identical in looks, yet as different as night and day. When they were children, that only made them stronger. But time passes and they drift apart. Artemis struggles to hold together the remnants of the once proud Fowls. Orion rejects his reality, finding escape in fiction. They must stand strong, stand together. But their future holds great conflict. And some bonds cannot be fixed.**

_In another time, in another place, Artemis Fowl had been born alone. In that time and place Orion Fowl was merely his alter ego, a result of the Atlantis Complex. This however, is not that time and place._ _Angeline Fowl gave birth to twins. __Orion was born as a real person, instead of a product of declining mental health. And that... that changed everything._

It was on a particularly dreary morning that it all started. At least for one of the Fowl twins.

Rain had been hammering the Manor nonstop since 2 AM. Neither of the eleven year old Fowls were asleep. Artemis had locked himself in his study yesterday afternoon and had not been out since. Orion did not particularly care what he was plotting this time. It had been a long time since he'd cared about his twin much at all.

An eleven year old boy shifted under his covers. He peeled open a blue eye to stare at the clock.

5 AM.

The boy scowled briefly. He leaned up on his elbow to look out the window.

It was still dark. Still pouring with rain.

With a groan, Orion Fowl sat up on his massive bed and switched on the bedside lamp. The sudden change in lighting made the boy wince as his eyes adjusted. Of course, that didn't stop him from reaching a hand out to the bedside table. He always kept a thick fantasy novel there. Just in case. (More often than not, these days.)

'I don't know why I even bother going to bed. Might as well spend my time on something interesting,' Orion muttered, scanning the title.

A book of Greek mythology. The one he always used to read himself to sleep. Grinning ruefully, Orion gently cracked the book open.

* * *

_Unlike his twin, Orion did not have any interest in criminal activity. He was brilliant of course - what other six year old was fluent in any number of languages? It was just that Artemis was better. Better at everything to do with the mind. Orion had never cared. It suited him._ _While Artemis was inside excersing his brilliant mind, Orion was sure to be outside, burning off energy._

_Orion had trained since he was young. Watched Butler and begged to be trained, to learn. It gave him something to do. Something _useful._ His daydreams about grand adventures hardly counted. Neither did his devouring_ _of the fictional world._

_Artemis was a genius. Butler was ... Butler. Orion would be average at both. Brilliant, right?_

_That was his logic. At least, it used to be._

_Back when he still cared._

_It had been wonderful when they were both children. Artemis and Orion had been close. Closer than they could ever be with anyone their age. Artemis was too brilliant, and Orion too eccentric. Artemis put up with his twin's quirks, Orion with Artemis' attitude. It worked . Somehow._

_He always used to beg his twin to read him their namesakes myth. In all its varieties. Orion adored it. But only his twin could read it aloud to him. (Their mother had tried once. That was the first and only time the boy threw a tantrum. Needless to say, she never tried again.) Artemis would roll his eyes and complain but dutifully recite the myth._

_He was happy, back then. Cluelessly, blissfully so._

_But then their father disappeared, their mother spiralled into insanity, and Orion was never happy since._

* * *

Blue eyes scanned the page, unseeing.

The boy on the bed slowly shook himself out of his memories. He sighed, weariness seeping into his body. This miserable atmosphere was getting to him. Orion Fowl was not one for sitting around feeling sorry for himself. He and his brother were similar in that, at least.

If nothing else.

Shaking his head, Orion shoved the book away. Greek mythology brought back too many painful memories. That simply wouldn't do. Not this day. Maybe this day would be the start of something spectacular! Perhaps an adventure, just like the all those fairy tales.

( Orion firmly ignored the voice in the back of his head that scoffed skeptically. Ignoring reality was always his talent.)

He swung both feet to the carpeted floor of his bedroom. He surveyed his room. The walls were plastered with various fantasy posters. The thick, ceiling to floor curtain was partially open. There was a door that led to his closet, and that was where he headed.

The first thing anyone noticed about his closet, was that it was split in half. One half held clothes, neatly folded to make space. The other half contained books. Fantasy novels, fairy tales, mythology, mystical lore. Orion was an expert on the fictional. He'd read it all. It was an obsession.

Orion looked over his books consideringly. Paperbacks, hardbacks, big ones, small ones. So much variety. Otherwise he'd get bored. Eventually, he picked out three especially thick ones, before heading back to read in bed. It was still so early after all.

Anything could happen today.

**AN : This is completely self indulgent. I wanted to expand Orion's character, as welll as explore the possibilities of him being Artemis' twin brother. There was a sad lack of fanfics about him. Which is how this happened.**


	2. Book 1: Chapter 2: Thoughts

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Artemis Fowl honor belongs to Eoin Colfer.**

**WARNING: This fanfic is rated M due to exploring in depth disturbing subjects. eg. trauma, gruesome imagery, self harm. I will try to handle these subjects as tactfully as possible, but you have been warned.**

* * *

**Summary: Orion and Artemis are born twins. Identical in looks, yet as different as night and day. When they were children, that only made them stronger. But time passes and they drift apart. Artemis struggles to hold together the remnants of the once proud Fowls. Orion rejects his reality, finding escape in fiction. They must stand strong, stand together. But their future holds great conflict. And some bonds cannot be fixed.**

* * *

Even though the Fowl Twins were identical, there were a number of differences that made identifying them fairly easy. One was as pale as a vampire. The other was not. One knew of his own genius and did not hesitate in informing others of it. The other acted as if he were in a fantasy novel most of the time. One was irritatingly, obnoxiously intelligent. The other just crazy.

On the surface, they couldn't have been more different.

Artemis knew though.

_Like always, _Orion had thought bitterly.

Orion would not have been bothered about that Before. It would have pleased him, Before. Sometimes, he reminisced. More than reminisced. Lost himself in memories. On particularly horrible days, he distanced himself from reality for a while. It helped. Somewhat. Not having to think meant he didn't have acknowledge the issues constantly burning in the back of his mind. Rejecting reality so vehemently was in no way healthy, but who cared if he was a little crazy? (Well, more than "a little") Certainly not Orion himself. And his own opinion was the only one he cared about.

* * *

**BEFORE **

_Orion Fowl knew he wasn't the smartest, or the strongest, or the best. It never bothered him in the slightest. He simply was never the type to feel envious. He'd always been satisfied, so why did matter? Even if society said it did. It wasn't like he cared about society's opinions. Neither of the twins did. And if anyone had anything to say about it, tough. Orion may not be as smart his twin, but he could still run rings around most people. (figuratively _and _literally)_

_It helped that he had perfect aim, and knew how to use firearms._

* * *

**AFTER**

The boy on the bed was utterly engrossed in his novel. Blue eyes scanned each sentence, alight with eager curiosity. Ever so often, hands reached out to turn a page. A quiet rustle resounded. Then silence, except for the boy's breathing. Light from the bedside lamp fell on the pages.

Orion's books never failed to distract him from reality. Such perfect, fictional, lives. _(perfection is fickle and impermanent. all too often, it does not exist. you were always an air-headed fool, brother)_ How he envied the characters. Their lives were so much exciting than his. Had he been in their place... Sometimes he imagined he was. Almost all the time, really.

Orion chuckled, dry and mocking.

'I really am pathetic, huh, Arty...' he mused out loud. 'You were right.' Orion shook his head. 'What am I saying, you're ALWAYS right.'

The boy's pretty features contorted into a scowl.

_All that genius and you still..._

_...you still..._

_... needed..._

_... me, isn't that right, Arty?_

His small, thin hands were clutching the book, knuckles white, nails digging into the cover.

Orion was, in many ways, softer than Artemis. Artemis' features were... _sharper, _somehow, than his twin's. The other was more frightening, more unnatural, more dangerous, that was obvious to anyone who ever interacted with both of them for more a second at a time. Superficially speaking, there were no differences between them. It was more in their differing attitudes and personalities. Orion was more than a little bit crazy, erratic,he behaved in a peculiar way that set most people on edge. (and, a lot of the time, enraged them.) Artemis was unsettling and enraging in a totally different manner. He held himself in a very different way. More ... dignified, so to speak.

Orion slumped, loosening his hold on the book.

_Whatever, _he thought viciously. _It's not like I really care._

Shaking his head quickly and tossing those thoughts to the back-burner, he focused back on his book.

There were far more interesting things to do than think.


End file.
